EVENTS

The London Society is committed to helping Londoners engage in the debate surrounding conservation, development and planning in the capital. We are building up a full programme of events to inform and engage the widest possible audience with tours, walks, roundtable discussions, debates and lectures. We aim to bring urban enthusiasts together to collectively contend with the challenges of the 21st century city.
We are developing a programme of engagement and discussion about issues of current interest. If a talk is sold out, please do register on the waitlist that will be in operation, as this is how we will gauge what event spaces are used for future talks.

Sadiq Khan is committed to protecting both industrial workspace and the Greenbelt. In his talk Colin Wilson suggests there is potential for using areas of poor quality Greenbelt, particularly that adjacent to existing industrial clusters and motorway infrastructure for industrial land, while at the same time freeing up industrial sites near railway stations to deliver much needed housing. The gains in land value could be invested in improving the Greenbelt, providing more affordable housing and making a compelling business case to The Treasury to fund schemes like Crossrail 2.

Is there a more rational approach to land use allocation and transport investment? And even if there is will politicians ever back it?

Alan Powers (former Chair of the Twentieth Century Society) offers an insightful and engaging evening as he delves into London's buildings of the 1930s and introduces one of our 2018 themes - 1930s London.

White walls, concrete cantilevers, flat hat roofs, or something more complicated? These received images of 1930s architecture quickly give way to variety of impulse and possibility in the expansion and rebuilding of London. For a long time, the ‘white hat’ good guys have been the Moderns, and the rest were culpable failures.

It is has taken us a long time to see the period in more depth, but surprisingly, much of today’s architecture helps us to better appreciate that social service 70 or 80 years ago came in many shapes, and that buildings such as police stations, clinics and schools, built with brick and stone, remain stalwarts of our streets with lessons to teach.

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Alan Powers writes mainly on mid twentieth century art, architecture and design in Britain. He has a long association with the Twentieth Century Society, first as its honorary caseworker in the 1980s, and more recently as chairman 2007-12. In 2018, he will publish two books, Enid Marx, The Pleasures of Pattern (Lund Humphries) and Bauhaus Goes West (Thames and Hudson).

Photo by Alan Powers: E. P. Wheeler (London County Council), former St. Martin’s School of Art and College of Distributive Trades, Charing Cross Road, 1939, refurbished by Liftschutz Davidson Sandilands, 2015.

This event is now SOLD OUT - please join the waitlistIf we have enough people interested we will aim to organise this tour again; people on the waitlist will have priority for any second tour.Monday, 26 March, 2:00 - 4:00

Designed by British architect Charles Holden, who is also credited with the design of many of London’s Underground stations, Senate House was created be the headquarters of the University of London.

The landmark Art Deco building is one of the few buildings in London to boast original 1930s features. King George V laid the foundation stone in June 1933 and the building welcomed its first occupants in 1936. Senate House, consisting of 19 floors and standing 210 feet (64m) high, was the tallest secular building in Britain on completion. It was constructed of the finest materials then available. It was listed as Grade II* in 1969. During the Second World War, Senate House was home to the Ministry of Information and inspired George Orwell’s description of the Ministry of Truth in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Senate House is also the home to the world-famous Senate House Library which holds one of the world’s largest humanities collections.

This event is nowSOLD OUT - please join the waitlistIf we have enough people interested we will aim to organise this tour again; people on the waitlist will have priority for any second tour.Saturday, 14 April, 10:45 - 13:00

As part of the Society’s ‘Markets’ series, Blue Badge Guide Dominic Burris-North uncovers some of the forgotten history about the capital’s involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

This thought provoking tour takes you through the streets and alleys of the City of London to show you where humans were bartered for over a cup of coffee, and how the ‘white gold’ used to sweeten that coffee became the principle driver of the trade.

Discover how longstanding racial stereotypes about Africans were propagated by City companies and how a racist ideology was used as a means of dehumanising the victims of slavery to provide a moral justification for the continuation of the trade, and about how one prominent court case stimulated the Abolition movement.

The darker origins of some of the City’s best known financial Institutions are revealed, learn how they like many other industries benefitted and grew from the odious trade.

This tour shines a light on a hidden past and will make you reconsider the legacy of slavery and whether or not enough has been or is being done to acknowledge it.

Join the Estate’s Strategic Projects Director, Simon Loomes, on a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of The Portman Estate’s 110 acres of Marylebone in London’s West End.

The tour will be a look to the future - with a focus on the commercial and mixed-use developments the Estate is set to deliver over the next 10 years and the Estate’s ongoing commitment to public realm, sustainability, community and partnerships. Attendees of the tour will have the opportunity to hear first-hand and ask questions about the strategies behind the Estate’s current and future initiatives.

How We Work is a Members Only 'behind the scenes' series of informal evenings with a key principal from one of the capital's leading architectural studios. The evening will look at the studio’s history, current and future projects.

Founded in 1984 by Bob Allies and Graham Morrison, Allies and Morrison’s work ranges from architecture, interior design and conservation to masterplanning, consultation and urban research. Since the studio's founding, they have developed a reputation for well-crafted buildings and thoughtful place making.

Completed projects in London include the refurbishment and restoration of the Royal Festival Hall, the public landscaping at Tate Britain, Chelsea College of Art, Greenwich Planetarium, and the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at the Globe. They have also been involved in the masterplanning for many of London’s major urban projects including the Olympic Games and Legacy, King’s Cross Central, Greenwich Peninsula, Canada Water, Royal Arsenal Woolwich, and Brent Cross Cricklewood, as well as Imperial College’s new White City Campus.

Join Bob Allies and the Society for this intimate Members Only evening as we discover the past, present and future of one of London’s most successful architectural studios.

After Crossrail2, what should be the next priority for London's infrastructure? How will new technology help us plan for a better city? What social and economic trends are going to affect the capital’s development? Where will the population of 11 million+ live and work?

Decisions that are made now will shape the London of 2050 - but with so many ‘unknown unknowns’ how can we plan for 30 years' time?

This panel discussion, held in association with CityMetric, the New Statesman's online urbanism magazine, will examine what the capital might look like mid-way through this century. Speakers include Jeremy Skinner of the GLA, Neil Bennett of Farrell’s and the discussion will be chaired by Jonn Elledge of CityMetric.

If you want to know how London might evolve in the next three decades, or if you have opinions you’d like to share, come along to what will be a fascinating debate on our possible futures.

The London Society has brought together an eclectic mix of London bloggers who will explore the how, why and what they write, and discuss representing the capital online. Whether you're a reader or an aspirant author or a regular blogger, you'll find much to learn and to think about from the evening's discussion. All welcome, especially those interested in contributing to the London Society’s own blog.

Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register is a tool to help understand the ‘health’ of London’s historic environment. It includes buildings and sites at risk from neglect, decay or inappropriate development, and helps focus advice and support where it’s most needed. In London there are 683 sites on the Heritage at Risk Register, reflecting the richness of our capital’s heritage – from the remains of a medieval moated manor house in Bromley, to a 1950s concrete sculpture on the Great West Road. Rebecca Barrett, Principal Adviser of the London Heritage at Risk team at Historic England will highlight some of London’s most interesting and unusual sites at risk. She’ll touch on the common challenges of finding imaginative solutions to these sites, but the great rewards that successful projects can help to deliver. She will also talk about the importance of strong partnerships in saving London’s heritage at risk, and how London Society members can play their part.

Plans are being made for London to become the world's first National Park City in 2019. The vision is being supported by the majority of the capital's elected politicians, the Mayor of London and thousands of Londoners, but what is a National Park City and will it really make a difference?

In this engaging talk Daniel Raven-Ellison, a guerrilla geographer, National Geographic Explorer and founder of the London National Park City campaign, will set out how this big idea could radically improve life in the capital by making our city greener, healthier and wilder.

JOIN THE LONDON SOCIETY

As a member of The London Society, you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at the forces that are shaping the future of London and discover a host of fascinating public programmes, tours, lectures and other convenings that celebrate this great city.